


expression

by orrabbit



Series: dissection of affection [2]
Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: F/M, Friends to Lovers, Not Beta Read, Secret Crush, Sick Character, intense observation of felix agreste
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-19
Updated: 2019-07-19
Packaged: 2020-07-08 15:58:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,064
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19872238
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orrabbit/pseuds/orrabbit
Summary: The different ways that Félix Agreste expresses himself, according to Marinette Dupain-Cheng





	expression

**Author's Note:**

> this is a sequel!!! ish!!!! of my last felinette oneshot. it's also multichaptered!!!!! it picks up right after félix first meets marinette :0  
> of course my dumbass wanted to add more things so i'll edit the last oneshot accordingly to this fic.............. it's advised to read the oneshot beforehand, but u can just plunge into reading this fic if u don't mind any slight confusion. 
> 
> also this is my first serious try in doing a multi-chaptered fic in a long while so please forgive any inconsistencies ᕕ(ᐛ)ᕗ

_Beep beep. Beep beep._

Marinette groaned at the sound of the cursed alarm in the morning. She still had the Pavlovian response to shut the alarm off immediately and go back to sleep, but it hasn’t affected her mood that stemmed from yesterday. As she yanked off her covers, the sight of her work desk gave her a small grin. It was the day after she won Gabriel Agreste’s bowler hat competition.

She! Marinette Dupain-Cheng! Won the prestigious design competition! Her silent squeal of victory stirred Tikki up as the higher being stared pointedly at the girl before going back for a brief nap. Tikki’s not a morning kwami.

The thought of yesterday brings Marinette back to the platinum blond that she met, Félix Agreste. The boy was quiet, sure, but he was a polite individual who complimented her design. Adrien was her friend, and the cheerful blond never ceases to compliment her work, but Félix was… different. He praised the intellectual aspect of her design, and Marinette recalls feeling strangely more satisfied from that comment. Maybe it was the less biased perspective that she’s given after all these years designing for herself and friends, or maybe it was-

“Marinette! You should hurry down soon!”

The girl grimaced at the thought of school, being a Miraculous holder meant her time with rest is very… limited.

“Coming maman!”

—

After combing through her hair, scarfing down her toast, brushing her teeth, changing out of her pajamas, stuffing all of her assignments into her bag, kissing her mother and father good-bye, and taking a (very) brisk walk, Marinette reached the front of the school steps where Alya leaned on as she scrolled through her phone.

Marinette waved as she crossed the road, “hey Alya! Thanks for waiting up on me.”

“It’s no big deal, plus you’re always late anyway,” Alya teases as Marinette whined in response.

“Oh _come on_ , I’m not that bad at being on time,” Marinette groaned, but gained a very dubious stare from her best friend, “fine, maybe I’m bad at being on time.”

“Yeah, for _sure_ \- OH! Did you know the rumors about our new student? Apparently he mistreated Adrien terribly.”

Wait, what? Marinette skids to a stop at the entrance.

“You mean _the_ Félix Agreste? Where’d you even get that information from?”

“Girl, there’s pictures!” Alya unlocks her phone to open a messaging app, “see? He’s pushing Adrien in this one there, smacking him on the face there-“

“How do you know that’s mistreating him? It’s not like siblings don’t fight or anything,” Marinette questions as Alya proceeds to roll her eyes.

“Did you see how cold he was when he came for our bowler hat presentation? He was literally staring daggers at me!”

“Aaaalright Als, maybe you’re getting a bit too ahead there. He wasn’t even that mean when I talked to him; he even gave me a compliment on the design,” Marinette says as they entered the classroom and stood next to their respective row.

Alya wasn’t relenting.

“You don’t see what he’s really like ‘cause you won the competition! I’m telling you: Félix Agreste is probably a sociopath who treats his brother badly which is why Adrien is so chill about literally anything we do!”

Marinette sighed, “but-“

“Excuse me, you’re in my fucking way.”

A cold voice resounded in the classroom. Marinette clearly recognizes the voice, but she felt her spine chill to the point that it felt more like ice than bone. The girls turned their heads to see a very clearly displeased blond standing right in front of them. Although his expression remains neutral, Félix’s eyes were full of passive rage. His hand gripped his messenger bag tightly until his knuckles turned white. It was unmistakeable: Marinette is sure that Félix is _pissed_.

As Marinette and Alya awkwardly shuffle into their seats, Félix made a point to look directly at Marinette. She’s sure that she broke into cold sweat by now.

“I thought you knew better, Dupain-Cheng,” he snarls as he spoke her last name an even more biting tone, then heads straight to the back seats.

“See? I told you he was ice cold,” Alya whispers disapprovingly.

“That’s because you’ve been spouting rumors about him without checking if it’s true or not. And you did it in front of him!” Marinette sighs exasperately, “where did you even hear this from?”

Alya paused to think for a while, then gave an uncomfortably long shrug, “I don’t know; I think it’s Rose? She told us to be careful of him, and the pictures were online.”

“Alya, I’m saying this as a friend, but _please_ fact-check next time. I know you’re always after the latest scoop, but just, please.”

“Fine, fine, don’t worry too much about it, alright? It’s not like he’s gonna talk to any of us,” Alya spoke flippantly as Mme. Bustier entered the class.

As the teacher introduced the new classmate, Marinette can’t help, but feel that those icy grey eyes were still staring at her. Probably boring a hole already behind her back.

—

Since Félix was already given a tour of the campus right before moving in, Marinette was free from giving a terribly awkward introduction to her collège (to which she sighed from relief). After Mme. Bustier informed her and Alya of upcoming class representative duties, the two were out of their class slightly after the bell rang for the next class. Thankfully, Mme. Bustier was kind to write an excused note, so the girls headed over to the lockers to get their textbooks without worry. 

As Marinette opened the door to the locker room, Alya was about to respond when Marinette hurriedly clamped the latter’s mouth shut and dragged her behind a locker.

“What the hell?!” Alya whispered when Marinette quietly shushed her; she cocked her head towards the direction where there was some loud chatter.

_Chloé and Sabrina_ , Marinette mouthed as she let go of her hand. Alya’s eyes rolled her eyes and was ready to retort when Chloé suddenly laughed.

“Ugh, kids in this collège are so dumb. I can make up whatever I want about Félix since he’s such an anti-social freak.”

“Of course! Convincing Rose was too easy,” Sabrina giggled.

“Well, that’s because I’m the one who planned this!”

“Sorry, sorry, you’re right. It was easy because you were the one who planned it.”

Marinette turned her head to see Alya winking and turning on the voice recorder on her phone. The former smirked in response.

“God, one good thing about the papparazzi is that they’ll take pictures of celebrities any time. Those pictures of Félix don’t look too good for _him_ ,” Chloé tsked, “but then that’ll mean Adrikins would be available to be with _me_ since that loser would be so mad at this ugly public school and leave!”

Alya rolled her eyes as she dutifully lifted her phone up higher to catch more audio.

“Too bad Adrien isn’t here today because of a shoot though..” Sabrina trailed off and hurriedly explained, “-because you can’t hang out with him today!”

“Ugh, I know.”

_Let’s get out of here_ , Marinette mouthed.

_What about our textbooks?_ Alya mouthed back worriedly. 

Marinette pulled out her tablet, and the brunette sighs in relief and shuts the voice recording app. Thank God for digital textbooks.

“What the _hell_ are you two doing here,” the girls turn around to see Chloé and Sabrina behind Marinette.

“Run,” Alya whispered.

And boy, did they run.

(“Why are you girls late,” Ms. Medeleiev asks.

“We got a tardy pass!” Marinette spoke rapidly as she dug out Mme. Bustier’s slip, and the two girls scuttled off to their seats in the classroom.

Not long after Ms. Medeleiev affirms the tardy slip, Chloé and Sabrina arrived at the classroom with ragged breath.

“Do you girls have a tardy slip?”

“No, but we-“

“Then detention it is.”)

—

The only thing Marinette appreciates about the akuma attacks is the fact that she’s running faster than ever, ever since akumas sometimes end up targeting her in her civilian form. She thinks about this appreciation once again during the start of lunch, already told Alya beforehand to run away from Chloé to preserve their evidence. Also because Marinette is on a mission, a mission to find Félix.

As she sprinted down the hall with her backpack in tow, she spots the platinum blond boy entering the school library. Well crap, now she has to be quiet in explaining too. At the sound of Chloé’s voice, Marinette picked up the speed and burst into the library. After scanning the room, Marinette found the boy to be sitting in a plush armchair, already occupied with a thick hardback book. Marinette walked over and sighed.

“Félix,” she spoke quietly.

The boy didn’t even bother to look up from his book.

“I know this isn’t the best time, place, or even position to talk to you, but I need you to be aware of this… situation,” Marinette paused and gulped, talking to an absolutely uninterested Félix is like talking to a brick wall.

“It’s true that my friend, Alya, believed in rumors about you, but I’ve tried to tell her that you’re not like what everyone says about you. I get that we’ve met only for a bit, but you’ve never displayed any bad intentions towards me. It’s only fair that I need to defend-”

“I don’t care what people talk about me, Dupain-Cheng,” Félix cut in curtly while his face remained planted on his far more interesting book.

“N- Yeah, I understand. I just wanted you to know that I didn’t believe in any of those lies, but there’s more pressing matters. The reason why the students here believe in the rumors.”

“Like I said, I don’t care. Now get out of my si-“

“Chloé orchestrated this plan to make the whole collège think you mistreat Adrien because she wants you to be removed from this campus, but also she could spend more time with Adrien. With you out, Adrien wouldn’t be occupied with you, as quoted from her.”

His grey eyes flit at Marinette briefly.

“And why should I believe that?”

As if on queue, the library door slammed open to reveal Chloé glaring at them.

“There you are, _Dupain-Cheng_ ,” she growled, only to be heavily shushed by the librarian.

Marinette gave Félix another pleading look. The boy only blinked then got up to pick his belongings.

“I’m taking the fire exit.”

(Marinette barely made out of the library unscathed. It’s only because she pretended to study in the same chair Félix sat in when Chloé started threatening her and the librarian had to intervene. After Chloé is escorted out of the library, she sighed in relief, only to hear her stomach growl.)

—

“I swear! I apologized and played him the recording. He’s fine with us now.”

…was what Alya said after lunch. Sure, Félix might have heard the evidence firsthand now, but he’s clearly not easily convinced. He may still have doubts about Marinette’s claims. Maybe she’d still need more proof to further explain that she’s right after all. Did he even listen to anything Alya said to him? He barely listened to her in the library! Marinette grumbled as she walked out of the last class of the day. Why’d convincing someone end up being so frustrating? Well… she could just stop caring about what Félix thought about her statement. For all he cared, maybe he just wants to forget the whole ordeal.

Even Tikki suggested Marinette to just calm down and stop thinking about it, why’d she have to be such a worrywart-

And she heard a clap of thunder. And the distinguishable pitter patter of the rain.

Marinette groaned loudly. So much for a peaceful day. She forgot her umbrella.

As she watched her classmates tread down with umbrellas, Marinette wonders whether she should run home in the rain. After all, her home’s only across the road-

“Hey.”

Marinette turned to see a more or less unperturbed Félix, holding out a folded umbrella towards her.

“H-Huh?” she blurted as her hand instinctively held the end of the umbrella. He lets go of the umbrella.

“I… I have some distressing matters to clarify,” Félix mumbles, then coughed slightly, “I apologize for my behavior towards you today, for letting my emotions cloud my judgement, and for rejecting your truth. I should have given you a chance to explain when you’ve done nothing to prove that you’re part of the masses who talk behind my back.”

Marinette could only gape.

Félix stared to the grown as he pressed his lips together tightly.

“Alya Césaire showed me the audio. It was disgusting of Bourgeois to think she can get the better of me, and she did, if you hadn’t intervened. Alya also told me that you did, in fact, defend me, and I… I’m just grateful.”

“I’m just doing what a friend should do,” Marinette smiled.

“A… friend?”

Marinette blinked, was he rejecting her friendship after all this-

“Sorry, I’m just not used to just… getting to know and have someone who I can call a… a friend. Especially someone as thoughtful as you who I have the honor to consider as one,” Félix clarifies, “but… can you accept my apology? It’s okay if you don’t-”

“Of course, Félix, of course. I’m very glad we can still be friends.”

A black limousine honked at the front of the school gates.

“Well, I need to go,” Félix frowned, “take the umbrella with you, I can walk to the car myself.”

“A-Alright, see you tomorrow?”

Marinette notices the barest hint of a smile in the rain.

“See you tomorrow, Marinette.”

—

It turns out that, despite their rough start, Félix is a pretty alright guy, albeit the fact that he can sometimes be a prick to some unwanted attention. It’s not difficult to see why the son of a fashion powerhouse would easily turn off any suspicious attention; Marinette could at least empathize with that. Being someone who’s used to detecting any suspicious activity, Félix is also painfully attentive when it comes to his friends as well. Alya once joked that Félix is a tiger mom once, resulting in the latter wrinkling his face in jest.

That also means Marinette is extra careful to not slip her secret identity.

Whenever the akuma attack ends, Marinette rushes to stumble in wherever her friends are every now and then. Sometimes she’d be in the classroom already, other times she goes to find her friends later. Félix once commented that Marinette could might as well be an akuma minion since she’s gone every time an attack happens which the girl shuddered at the thought, not realizing the boy caught on so fast. Could it be he’s suspecting that she’s Ladybug? At first Marinette thought that Félix might think she’s Hawkmoth, but Hawkmoth’s a guy. That statement makes zero rational sense.

(Tikki makes sure to knock some sense into Marinette with a good pinch on the arm.)

For a guy who refuses to accept that he’s a tiger mom, Félix is _terribly_ naggy. He reminds Marinette to look after her health, take care of her “ridiculous eye bags”, and with even more scolding to follow. Marinette dislikes making her friend worry, but what can she do when she’s the hero of Paris? Marinette soon learns that she should always listen to Félix’s nagging, even if she still refuses to cave in into his worries.

_Beep beep. Beep beep._

Marinette groaned at the sound of the cursed alarm in the morning. She still had the Pavlovian response to shut the alarm off immediately and go back to sleep, especially today because she feels like absolute shit. She did patrol last night, made sure her assignments were done on time, and crawled back to sleep at 5 in the bleak morning. Approximately a good 2 hours of sleep.

She, Marinette Dupain-Cheng, feels her head growing heavier the longer she stays conscious. Her vision slightly debilitating as she sees her work desk split into three and- okay, maybe she just needs to wake up. As she walks over to her bathroom to wash her face, Marinette feels her limbs aching with each step.

“Marinette! You should hurry down soon!”

“Ye-e-es maman,” she croaks out, feeling the familiar need to crawl back into her covers.

The girl blinks. There’s a quiz today right?

—

“Your health is the number one priority right now.”

Marinette glanced up to see Félix crossing his arms and shoos him dazedly.

“I’m fine, Fé. I just need to study this chemistry quiz, and just, y’know, _wing it_ ,” she slurs as she feels herself slowly, probably, becoming one with her desk.

“You don’t look fine,” the blond frowned, “we should be taking you to the infirmary.”

“Yeah! Screw this quiz!” Alya threw her hands up and grinned, “more excuse to not do the test, eh?”  


“That’s not the point, Alya,” Félix sighed, “you sure you can do the quiz?”

“Ms. Mendeleiev is going to go ballistic if I skip out on this one. I- I think? I got a D on my last text,” Marinette counts on her fingers, what was her last test score anyway?

“Ugh fine, but before you end up staying at home,” Félix judged the pigtailed girl, “I told you so.”

“ _Whatever_ ,” Marinette whined before continuing to stare at her barely useful chemistry notes.

Out of pity or concern or both, Félix nudges his notebook for Marinette to stare at, at the very least. The girl doesn’t remember what’s in the notebook though, just the fact that Félix has swirly handwriting. Swirly handwriting is hard to read.

“Hey dude!”

Marinette barely tilted her head up to see Nino and Adrien approaching her.

“I got a favor to ask,” Nino said as he dug into his bag, “could you fix my cap? It’s a bit torn. I’ll pay your lunch tomorrow.”

“S-Sure!” Marinette tugs at the cap and then scribbles a note to fix Nino’s cap.

“Thanks a lot dude!”

“She won’t finish it by tomorrow though,” Félix’s voice pointedly added.

“Oh, are you sure about _that_?” Marinette snorts, “I’ll get it done by tomorrow, no worries.”

“You’re _sick_ , Mari.”

“Marinette’s sick?” Adrien asked worriedly, “shouldn’t you be home right now?”

“Agh, it’s fine. I need to do this stupid chemistry quiz today then go home to fix the cap then return it tomorrow. Easy peasy.”

Marinette hears Félix ranting at his brother and his brother’s best friend about her ignoring her own wellbeing for the next ten minutes. She tries to ignore the nagging feeling that Félix may be right.

_Wait a minute_ , Marinette thought before falling into a brief slumber.

(She doesn’t hear the sound of a concerned someone draping a jacket on her shoulders as she sleeps.)

—

By the time Marinette gets home, she barely remembers what even happened during the chemistry quiz. Her mind was only on one thing: Nino’s cap.

_You don’t know my stamina, Agreste_ , she thought as she takes out a threaded needle, _I’ll prove you wrong_. The process was agonizing. Her sewing machine had to die on her in the middle of sewing. When she went to check, the electrical chords were fraying. Well, her sewing machine did go through a lot. Not wanting to risk anything, Marinette settled on the traditional route of fixing any clothing article: hand-sewing. It took her a good few hours, Marinette made sure all the embroidery was neat. The torn section was camoflauged well, and she grinned at the thought of wiping Félix’s smug face off for undermining her abilities.

As she set the cap on the desk, Marinette stretched and stood up.

Then it all went black.

—

“Marinette, dear.”

A few blinks revealed her mother and father sitting at her bedside in concern. Her father was holding a bowl of steaming food while her mother was scanning through several containers, probably Chinese medicine. Marinette feels uncomfortably cold while feeling her entire body sweating buckets underneath the thick covers of her bed. Breathing proved to be a difficult task when snot seemed to be endless. The girl tried to talk, but ended up croaking out a couple of syllables before going into a coughing fit.

“We found you on the floor in the morning,” her mother frowned, “your temperature’s at thirty nine degrees, so no school today.”

School sounds better than getting stuck with this abhorrent cold.

“At least eat a warm meal and some medicine before you sleep,” her father spoke with concern, “your maman’s porridge already cooled a bit, and you’ll be as right as rain tomorrow after taking these pills.”

Marinette could only nod, but even then her head feels like it’s ready to crush through her entire body. She feels like she’s back at elementary again when her papa’s spooning food with undetectable taste, dutifully swallowing even though her throat feels patchy and dry. There’s not even enough energy to agonize over the pain.

When she finishes her meal and gulps down a dozen of bitter pills, her mother pats her head approvingly.

“Just go back to sleep, don’t worry about the hat.”

Marinette breathes as she’s gently tucked into her bed; cat plushie enveloping around her. She thinks about the hat, Nino, Alya, Félix, and his smug face before falling into unconsciousness again.

—

The next time Marinette wakes up, she’s undoubtedly aware of the resounding steps underneath her room’s trap door. She hears her muffled chatter, but her tendency to oversleep overrides her as she rolls to face towards the wall and wills herself to sleep. It’s a fruitless action, but she supposes salvaging any amount of rest she could get is the better option, briefly.

She hears footsteps enter her room, a sound of someone about to talk (Alya), humming (Nino), and shushing (Félix). Marinette changes her mind to wake up and greet, but starts groaning when she feels every limb in her body aching, even though it feels way better than the day before.

“Marinette!” Alya exclaimed as she pulls herself up from the ladder leading to the bed, “you’re alive! You weren’t picking up any calls, so we decided to come visit. Adrien couldn’t come because his dad had a shoot scheduled for him”

“Y-Yeah,” the pigtailed girl smiled, following a small cough, “thank you.”

“Are you feeling better?” Félix asked, voice filled with worry.

“I’m doing way better than I was yesterday; don’t sweat about it.”

“Dude, he was totally panicking when you weren’t picking up,” Nino laughed then trailed off when the blond looked at him, “but yeah! We’re glad you’re feeling better. I got your homework, Félix took some notes for you, and Alya’s here with some food from your parents.”

She could smell the beautifully buttered croissants and feel her stomach growling.

Félix added, “but your parents instructed to give you some porridge and medicine.”

So much for croissants.

Speaking of Félix…

“I got your hat fixed,” Marinette grinned, “it’s on my work desk right now, so you can take it back home Nino.”

“Seriously? That’s freaking fast, thanks dude!” Nino hopped off the bed loft to claim his hat.

“My sewing machine broke down, but there’s nothing that a little hand sewing can’t fix.”

Alya gasped, “you’re a freaking soldier Marinette. A cold for a hat? Whew!” 

The pigtailed girl could feel Félix’s stares heavily judging her, but she’s still relishing in her victory.

Marinette 1 - Félix 0

“Well I don’t want you guys to be stuck on my bed right now, so just go eat the croissant. I’ll get down and take my meds,” she said and Alya, ready to feast, hopped down the ladder to the tray of food below.

Félix sighed, “you shouldn’t overwork yourself to the point you’re sick, Mari. I get that you want to get it done as soon as possible, but your health is still important. I wouldn’t want you to pass out and be unable to focus on your passion-”

Marinette could only groan in response, but her stomach’s not only responding from her need to eat. She felt it briefly, but it’s something other than hunger. A deep twisted feeling where her heart feels like it’s ready to flutter out. She stares at Félix, who only furrowed his brows in frustration as he continues to lecture on the importance of health, but when did his stormy eyes look so… interesting? With his clothes ruffled from climbing on the bed and hair lightly mussed, Félix just weirdly looked like a saint with the light behind him like a soft halo. His face seems slightly flushed, and his lips looked so ki- hold the fuck up.

This isn’t just some behavior that sick people exhibit.

It’s a cr- _NOPE NOPE NOPE._

“Please just don’t something as reckless as this again,” Félix bit his lip, “please.”

“Sorry” was what Marinette could utter as she clenched her hands on the bed sheets, whether if it’s from her romantic frustration or platonic guilt is unknown.

“But for the record…” Félix stood up and smirked at the girl, “I told you so.”

God, he’s going to be the end of her.

And he’s already won her heart.

—

On the day that Marinette’s birthday suddenly approaches, she’s surprised by her classmates (excluding Chloé and Sabrina, of course) with cake from her father and dozens of presents. At the start, she was suspicious of what was going on when Alya greeted her at the school’s front steps while holding up her phone. The brunette refused to admit any scheming and quickly dragged her upstairs to the classroom. When she’s shoved into the classroom, she’s greeted with hues of pink and decorations ranging from banners to confetti to balloons.

“Happy birthday Marinette!” The class chorused in unity and appreciation for the girl. Marinette felt her heart oozing with gratitude for being around with so many amazing classmates who took the effort to organize such a grand event for her. Maybe shed a tear or two as well.

“We want to give our best class representative the best birthday party!” Alix yelled behind the crowd of people.

“You’re the best Marinette!”

“We hope you love the presents!”

“Oh you guys…” Marinette smiled as she turned to look at her teacher, “thank you for allowing this party to happen Mme. Bustier.”

“It’s not a problem Marinette,” her teacher replied, “now go and slice that cake before the class period starts.”

As soon as Marinette receives her slice of cake, the whole class devoured the entire cake within seconds. She’s glad that Alya was able to capture that part of the whole party.

“You should open the presents,” Marinette glances up to see Adrien gesturing at the pile, “there’s a lot of things going on in there.”

“Yeah, definitely,” Marinette chuckled.

“And y’know,” Adrien added with a teasing lilt, “Félix has something interesting in there.”

The girl felt her entire face slowly flush as the blond giggled. Of course, someone had to remind her of her crush. After several days of trying to hide her affection, practically the whole class (except for Félix) knew about Marinette’s undying love for the stoic blond. Their interactions hadn’t been different, except for a bit of stuttering at Marinette’s end, but Félix didn’t seem to mind, nor does he seem aware of her awkwardly immense admiration for the boy.

“ _Fine_ ,” the pigtailed girl plucked the top of the present pile to unwrap.

Adrien himself had given Marinette a box of drawing tools that she’s seen in a Tumblr gif set which, honestly, she can’t find a reason to complain when there’s rows of acrylic, oil, and watercolor paints. Nino got her the new Mecha Strike video game which Marinette had discussed with him for ages. Alya gave her a gift card to her favorite DIY store. Most of her classmates got Marinette a sketchbook that the girl had appreciated, if it weren’t for the loads of sketchbooks at home sitting and collecting dust. Nonetheless, she was glad that her classmates had cared to get her something.

Then there’s the big wrapped present sitting at the bottom of the pile.

“I know it’s pretty huge, but uh…” Félix scratched the back of his neck, “I hope you like it.”

Marinette nodded as she carefully unwrapped the present. After a few seconds of failing to preserve the wrapping paper, she tore it all out to find a box displaying a dangerously expensive sewing machine.

“Félix,” Marinette whispered, “holy shit.”

“It’s not much but-“

“This has got to cost like thousands of euros Fé!” She exclaimed, “I-I still haven’t been able to replace my sewing machine- wait how did you even know I had a broken sewing machine I-“

“You mentioned that your sewing machine broke down when you were sick,” he spoke, “and I thought you wouldn’t be able to purchase one before your birthday came around.”

There it is. The attentiveness that Félix had.

The boy shuffled around awkwardly, “I hope it’s not too complicated to operate, bu-“

“No, thank you so much Fé. This is absolutely perfect,” Marinette grinned.

He snorted, “if you say so.”

As the class slowly returned to their respective seats, Marinette can’t help but sigh at the thought of Félix picking out her birthday present. He took his time to get something for her. And it was absolutely _amazing._ Literally no one can top that present, and God, he’s just so perfect and smart and considerate-

“Still swooning over him huh,” Alya commented as she slides in her seat.

“When are you _ever_ going to tell him the way you feel about him Mari,” Nino added as he wiggled his brows suggestively.

“Oh shut up,” Marinette retorted and sighed sadly, “I just… I’d rather keep it like this y’know. It’s nice to be able to be with him casually and stuff. And what if he rejects me, oh my God I don’t even want to think about it. _Ughhhh._ ”

Her friends groaned and shook their heads then turned their attention to Mme. Bustier as she announces the start of class. But of course, Marinette can’t help but think about the possible reasons where Félix would reject her. Plus she’d still have to guard over her identity as Ladybug. At the very least, she’s certain that Félix owns her heart. Probably forever.

(Marinette 1 - Félix 999999+)

**Author's Note:**

> can we have a ml reboot already


End file.
